A wiki is a website that allows you to easily update it. It allows others to update it too—depending on the permissions you give. You can add text, video, audio, and chat priviledges. You can link to other pages in the wiki or to pages anywhere on the Internet. You can be notified when somebody changes a page. You can revert back to any previous version of the page. It allows for connections, collaborations, and conversations.
What can you do with a wiki in your classroom?
· Share information with students and parents, including classroom news, homework assignments, and curriculum updates. · Allow Students or colleagues respond to an experience or a piece of reading. · Post student art projects, audio clips, and writing. · Create a literature response journal onto the Net.
Don't hesitate to send my questions you might have, or send insights to the group. I will put this on the site.
Michele DePace asked how would you find out if there were wikis or blogs out there that addressed topics you were interested in seeing. Organizing immense amounts of information is the next step. There have been many bookmarking sites created in the past couple of years. "Furl.net" "diigo.com" and "del.icio.us" are worth looking at. These are free services. Del.icio.us lets you see what anybody else has saved using the same webpage tag by putting the tag name at the end of the address: http://del.icio.us/tag/yourtagher. Try it putting "education" as yourtaghere.
You can keep track of cool ways other people use a wiki at http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com .
Various tips and tricks for designing a wiki can be found at http://gettingtrickywithwikis.wikispaces.com. There, you can find instructions to customize the layout and look of your wiki including how to add a table of contents to your site, place a background image on your page, and create column layouts.
Where do I go from here?*
Step 1: Look at what is out there do a Google search “wiki, classroom, 5th grade”.
Setp 2: Select a wiki provider (pbworks.com or wikispaces.org) which are free to educators.*
Step 3: Decide who is going to use your wiki. This involves making decisions on password access for students, whether you will screen comments before they are posted, etc. Invite another member of the class to join your wiki.
Step 4: Decide how students will use the wiki. Students shouldn’t be left to figure out the skills they need. Although a willingness to learn new media by point-and-click exploration might come naturally to today’s students, there’s nothing innate about knowing how to apply their skills. Take advantage of the authentic audience provided on the wiki to develop a page that requires students’ to use higher-order thinking skills. You can start by · Posting material on the wiki that builds background knowledge about what students are studying. Students can read the online post, evaluate what they’re reading, and react with online posts. · Ask students to use the wiki to write about things that need clarification, comment on their first impressions of characters, summarize what’s been learned so far, and forge connections they can make to their own experience and knowledge. At this point, students should read each others’ comments on the blog. · Have students work in pairs to synthesize what they have learned from their own writing and that of their classmates. Synthesizing is a higher-order skill and students need explicit instruction and then feedback on their efforts. · Have students read the classroom wiki, think about the variety of comments it contains, and comment on it.
Here is another link to more great tutorials on how to use PBWorks!
1. It’s easy to edit your workspace and create new pages. The more you edit your workspace, the more likely it is to succeed. Editing your workspace is just like editing your usual word-processing software -- only it's online, and easier. · Log in to your workspace at my.pbworks.com (https://my.pbworks.com/) and choose your wiki or create a wiki. · Click "Edit page" at the top of your workspace. Type "Hello world!" on the page and click "Save." Your PBworks is updated.
2. To create new pages click "Create new page" at the top of your workspace · Type "English Syllabus" into the page title and click "Create new page" · Once you type something on the page (anything! It's ok!), click "Save"
3. To link pages together (To navigate from one page to another, you'll want to link pages together. Unlinked pages are called "orphans," and that's no fun.) · Go to the front page of your workspace and click "Edit" · Type "English Syllabus" · Select the text and click the "Insert link" button (the world icon on your tool bar) · Choose "Link to a page" and locate "English Syllabus" · Once you click "Ok" and "Save," you'll see that your page now links to your English Syllabus page
You can set up as many pages as you want and link them together.
4. Give Students Clear Instructions: · Make sure your students understand how to engage with this new online resources make sure you post clear directions on the front page. · Add student assignments and instructions on the front page. Treat your front page as a short introduction with links to other pages. · Type a few bullet points and create links to the pages (to link, edit a page, select the text, and click "Insert Link"). · If you have handouts, create a page called "Handouts" and upload the files there.
5. Use a creative activity to engage your students on your workspace. Here are three examples: · Individual pages- Ask each student to create a page, posting information about their interests and what they hope to learn from the class. Be sure to comment on the pages, and engage them by referencing their personal interests in discussions. Use this as an easy icebreaker to have students get to know each other. · Online spelling list – Create a page titled ‘Spelling’ and post your spelling list. Ask students to post the definition or upload a corresponding image. · Class notes - Each week assign one student to write up the class notes, including important points and class discussion. Be sure to comment on the notes, and add additional insight from the lesson. · For more ideas see how other educators have used PBworks in their classroom go to http://www.publicpbwikis.com/educational
6. Keep track of what your students are doing on your workspace--it’s important to know what information your students have put online, to monitor workspace activity and find what you’re looking for. · Email Notifications--PBworks tracks every edit made to your workspace page and then sends you email notifications when changes are made. You can change your notification setting to receive changes immediately—or not at all. Here’s how: Log onto My.PBworks.com (https://my.pbworks.com/) and scroll down to the box titled “Preferences” and change your notification setting. · Page History--Every edit you make on your workspace is saved – this means that you always know who edited the workspace and when it was changed. If your students accidentally delete your work or upload inappropriate content – you immediately know who did it and you can reverse the changes. Here’s how: Log in at My.PBworks.com (https://my.pbworks.com/) and choose your wiki and click the page history link on the top of your page. Watch a video demonstration on how to compare edits, and change back to a previous version of your page (http://pbworks.com/content/supportcenter-revertpage) · Search--Once you have a lot of content on your workspace, search makes it easy to find what you’re looking for. You can search by keyword to find text, pages, tags and even comments. The search box is located on the top right hand panel of your workspace.
7. Create private pages and lock your pages from others on your workspace. (These are premium features on PBwiki). Hideable pages allow you to create private content on your workspace - this is great if you are developing a syllabus or group project on the workspace, but aren't yet ready to share it with your class. Lockable pages let you place information on your workspace, and lock it from future edits. Use this to post assignments that you don't want your students to edit. Here is how to hide and lock pages. · Log in to your wiki · Look to the right-hand side of your workspace there are three options: Put this page in a folder, Add Tags, Page Security. Chose Page Security, then chose to Hide or Lock your page.
8. You can put multimedia on your wiki--video, audio, chat rooms, etc. You can insert all kinds of multimedia applications on your workspace with just a few clicks. To insert a sample video: · Upload your video to Teachertube.com (http://pbworks.com/content/eduportal-resources-videos) · Copy the embed code to your video · Go to your wiki and while editing a page, click "Insert Plugin" and choose the "You Tube" plugin. · Paste your embed code and save your page. If you upload your videos through our Video plugin (or embed through YouTube (http://pbworks.com/content/eduportal-resources-videos)), your videos won't consume workspace storage space on your wiki. · Here are some of our most popular plugins:
o The Calendar plugin lets you insert a shared calendar for setting dates and milestones for your classroom/library
o Chat rooms let your students or staff communicate with each other. This is a great additional way for you and your students to collaborate
9. Inserting images is easy: While editing a page, use the "Insert Links" box on the right side of the page.
10. Invite your students to join you. Here's how: · Log in to your wiki · Click the 'Settings' link (on the top right hand side of the page). · Choose 'users' Invite anyone by entering their email address and setting their workspace permission level. · If your students don't have email addresses, you can use classroom accounts, which allow you to add students to your workspace without email addresses. Your students will be able to create new pages and enter their own information on your PBworks. Remember, you'll get notified by email anytime something changes.
o Click the 'Settings' link (on the top right hand side of the page).
o Choose 'users'
o Click on the link 'Create accounts for your students'
o Enter in the number of students who need accounts and PBworks will automatically generate them for you.
12. If you want great ideas on how to engage your students, check out our teacher led community at (http://pbworks.com/education)
Wiki C3: Connections, Collaborations, and Conversations
Organizational relationships hold the secrets to life
What is a wiki?
A wiki is a website that allows you to easily update it. It allows others to update it too—depending on the permissions you give. You can add text, video, audio, and chat priviledges. You can link to other pages in the wiki or to pages anywhere on the Internet. You can be notified when somebody changes a page. You can revert back to any previous version of the page. It allows for connections, collaborations, and conversations.What can you do with a wiki in your classroom?
· Share information with students and parents, including classroom news, homework assignments, and curriculum updates.· Allow Students or colleagues respond to an experience or a piece of reading.
· Post student art projects, audio clips, and writing.
· Create a literature response journal onto the Net.
Scavenger Hunt
Questions?
Don't hesitate to send my questions you might have, or send insights to the group. I will put this on the site.Michele DePace asked how would you find out if there were wikis or blogs out there that addressed topics you were interested in seeing. Organizing immense amounts of information is the next step. There have been many bookmarking sites created in the past couple of years. "Furl.net" "diigo.com" and "del.icio.us" are worth looking at. These are free services. Del.icio.us lets you see what anybody else has saved using the same webpage tag by putting the tag name at the end of the address: http://del.icio.us/tag/yourtagher. Try it putting "education" as yourtaghere.
You can keep track of cool ways other people use a wiki at http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com .
Various tips and tricks for designing a wiki can be found at http://gettingtrickywithwikis.wikispaces.com. There, you can find instructions to customize the layout and look of your wiki including how to add a table of contents to your site, place a background image on your page, and create column layouts.
Where do I go from here?*
Step 1: Look at what is out there do a Google search “wiki, classroom, 5th grade”.Setp 2: Select a wiki provider (pbworks.com or wikispaces.org) which are free to educators.*
Step 3: Decide who is going to use your wiki. This involves making decisions on password access for students, whether you will screen comments before they are posted, etc. Invite another member of the class to join your wiki.
Step 4: Decide how students will use the wiki. Students shouldn’t be left to figure out the skills they need. Although a willingness to learn new media by point-and-click exploration might come naturally to today’s students, there’s nothing innate about knowing how to apply their skills. Take advantage of the authentic audience provided on the wiki to develop a page that requires students’ to use higher-order thinking skills. You can start by
· Posting material on the wiki that builds background knowledge about what students are studying. Students can read the online post, evaluate what they’re reading, and react with online posts.
· Ask students to use the wiki to write about things that need clarification, comment on their first impressions of characters, summarize what’s been learned so far, and forge connections they can make to their own experience and knowledge. At this point, students should read each others’ comments on the blog.
· Have students work in pairs to synthesize what they have learned from their own writing and that of their classmates. Synthesizing is a higher-order skill and students need explicit instruction and then feedback on their efforts.
· Have students read the classroom wiki, think about the variety of comments it contains, and comment on it.
1. It’s easy to edit your workspace and create new pages. The more you edit your workspace, the more likely it is to succeed. Editing your workspace is just like editing your usual word-processing software -- only it's online, and easier.
· Log in to your workspace at my.pbworks.com (https://my.pbworks.com/) and choose your wiki or create a wiki.
· Click "Edit page" at the top of your workspace. Type "Hello world!" on the page and click "Save." Your PBworks is updated.
2. To create new pages click "Create new page" at the top of your workspace
· Type "English Syllabus" into the page title and click "Create new page"
· Once you type something on the page (anything! It's ok!), click "Save"
3. To link pages together (To navigate from one page to another, you'll want to link pages together. Unlinked pages are called "orphans," and that's no fun.)
· Go to the front page of your workspace and click "Edit"
· Type "English Syllabus"
· Select the text and click the "Insert link" button (the world icon on your tool bar)
· Choose "Link to a page" and locate "English Syllabus"
· Once you click "Ok" and "Save," you'll see that your page now links to your English Syllabus page
You can set up as many pages as you want and link them together.
4. Give Students Clear Instructions:
· Make sure your students understand how to engage with this new online resources make sure you post clear directions on the front page.
· Add student assignments and instructions on the front page. Treat your front page as a short introduction with links to other pages.
· Type a few bullet points and create links to the pages (to link, edit a page, select the text, and click "Insert Link").
· If you have handouts, create a page called "Handouts" and upload the files there.
5. Use a creative activity to engage your students on your workspace. Here are three examples:
· Individual pages- Ask each student to create a page, posting information about their interests and what they hope to learn from the class. Be sure to comment on the pages, and engage them by referencing their personal interests in discussions. Use this as an easy icebreaker to have students get to know each other.
· Online spelling list – Create a page titled ‘Spelling’ and post your spelling list. Ask students to post the definition or upload a corresponding image.
· Class notes - Each week assign one student to write up the class notes, including important points and class discussion. Be sure to comment on the notes, and add additional insight from the lesson.
· For more ideas see how other educators have used PBworks in their classroom go to http://www.publicpbwikis.com/educational
6. Keep track of what your students are doing on your workspace--it’s important to know what information your students have put online, to monitor workspace activity and find what you’re looking for.
· Email Notifications--PBworks tracks every edit made to your workspace page and then sends you email notifications when changes are made. You can change your notification setting to receive changes immediately—or not at all. Here’s how: Log onto My.PBworks.com (https://my.pbworks.com/) and scroll down to the box titled “Preferences” and change your notification setting.
· Page History--Every edit you make on your workspace is saved – this means that you always know who edited the workspace and when it was changed. If your students accidentally delete your work or upload inappropriate content – you immediately know who did it and you can reverse the changes. Here’s how: Log in at My.PBworks.com (https://my.pbworks.com/) and choose your wiki and click the page history link on the top of your page. Watch a video demonstration on how to compare edits, and change back to a previous version of your page (http://pbworks.com/content/supportcenter-revertpage)
· Search--Once you have a lot of content on your workspace, search makes it easy to find what you’re looking for. You can search by keyword to find text, pages, tags and even comments. The search box is located on the top right hand panel of your workspace.
7. Create private pages and lock your pages from others on your workspace. (These are premium features on PBwiki). Hideable pages allow you to create private content on your workspace - this is great if you are developing a syllabus or group project on the workspace, but aren't yet ready to share it with your class. Lockable pages let you place information on your workspace, and lock it from future edits. Use this to post assignments that you don't want your students to edit. Here is how to hide and lock pages.
· Log in to your wiki
· Look to the right-hand side of your workspace there are three options: Put this page in a folder, Add Tags, Page Security. Chose Page Security, then chose to Hide or Lock your page.
8. You can put multimedia on your wiki--video, audio, chat rooms, etc. You can insert all kinds of multimedia applications on your workspace with just a few clicks. To insert a sample video:
· Upload your video to Teachertube.com (http://pbworks.com/content/eduportal-resources-videos)
· Copy the embed code to your video
· Go to your wiki and while editing a page, click "Insert Plugin" and choose the "You Tube" plugin.
· Paste your embed code and save your page. If you upload your videos through our Video plugin (or embed through YouTube (http://pbworks.com/content/eduportal-resources-videos)), your videos won't consume workspace storage space on your wiki.
· Here are some of our most popular plugins:
o The Calendar plugin lets you insert a shared calendar for setting dates and milestones for your classroom/library
o Chat rooms let your students or staff communicate with each other. This is a great additional way for you and your students to collaborate
9. Inserting images is easy: While editing a page, use the "Insert Links" box on the right side of the page.
10. Invite your students to join you. Here's how:
· Log in to your wiki
· Click the 'Settings' link (on the top right hand side of the page).
· Choose 'users' Invite anyone by entering their email address and setting their workspace permission level.
· If your students don't have email addresses, you can use classroom accounts, which allow you to add students to your workspace without email addresses. Your students will be able to create new pages and enter their own information on your PBworks. Remember, you'll get notified by email anytime something changes.
o Click the 'Settings' link (on the top right hand side of the page).
o Choose 'users'
o Click on the link 'Create accounts for your students'
o Enter in the number of students who need accounts and PBworks will automatically generate them for you.
12. If you want great ideas on how to engage your students, check out our teacher led community at (http://pbworks.com/education)
“HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking” by Lisa Zawilinski in The Reading Teacher, May 2009 (Vol. 62, # 8, p. 650-661); this article can be purchased at “http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=/publications/journals/rt/current/index.html&mode=redirect"